7 November 2026 · 6 min read
What prop trading is, and how an evaluation works
You pay for an evaluation, trade on a simulated account under rules published in advance and, if you keep to them, you may receive a reward. Here is every step, with figures.
From trading firms to online evaluations
Prop trading comes from “proprietary trading”: a firm trades its own money, through the traders it hires. The gains and the losses are the firm's.
Many online evaluation firms, such as Aegis Traders, do something else. They don't give you money to trade and they don't hire you. They sell an evaluation: you get a simulated account and risk rules, and if you keep to them you may receive a reward worked out from the simulated profit.
With us, every account is simulated, the rewards account included. No order reaches a real market.
The steps of an evaluation
2-Step has two evaluation phases, 1-Step has one. Instant has no evaluation: you start straight on the rewards account, with stricter limits. With an evaluation, the road looks like this:
- You choose the product and the account size, for example a $10,000 2-Step, and pay the price of the evaluation.
- You get the simulated account and trade from your browser, on our terminal.
- You reach the profit target without hitting the loss limits, in at least the minimum number of trading days.
- A person checks the result and approves or refuses the pass, with a reason, within 5 working days.
- Within 15 days of the pass, you verify your identity, once, and accept the contract for the rewards account.
- On the rewards account you keep trading and may request payouts from the simulated profit.
- 1You pay for the evaluation
- 2You get the simulated account
- 3You hit the target without hitting the limits
- 4A person checks, within 5 working days
- 5Identity and contract, within 15 days
- 6Simulated rewards account
The rules that decide a pass
The profit target is the closed profit you have to reach, as a percentage of the initial capital. When you reach it, you must have no open positions.
Daily loss and maximum loss are the two limits that can stop your account. They are measured on equity, so open positions count too.
A trading day is a day on which you executed at least one trade. On today's products, phases have no maximum duration, but an account with no trade for 30 days goes inactive and closes for good.
- 2-Step: an 8% target in phase 1 and 5% in phase 2, at least 4 trading days per phase, 5% daily loss and 10% maximum loss.
- 1-Step: a 10% target, at least 3 trading days, 3% daily loss and 6% maximum loss.
- Instant: no target and no phase, 2% daily loss and 5% maximum loss, trailing.
An example: a $10,000 2-Step
In phase 1 the target is 8%, which is $800: the balance has to reach $10,800, with every position closed. The 10% maximum loss means equity must not fall below $9,000. The 5% daily loss means at most $500 lost in a day, counted from the balance at the start of the day.
Once the pass is approved, phase 2 starts with the same capital, and the target is 5%, which is $500. The loss limits stay the same.
The profit of a position held for less than 60 seconds doesn't count towards the target. Its loss always counts.
- Target: $10,800
- Start: $10,000
- Maximum loss: $9,000
- Equity, day by day
A made-up road. Equity goes up and down, but never below $9,000. Illustrative, on a simulated account.
What comes next on the rewards account
The rewards account is simulated too and has no profit target. From the simulated profit you may request payouts: your share is 80% on 2-Step and 1-Step, or 90% or 100% with the “Profit share” add-on, and 70% on Instant.
The first payout can be requested 30 days after the first trade on the rewards account, then at most every 14 days. Payouts come in levels: 4% of the capital on the first, 7% on the second and 9% on every one after.
After each approved payout, the account goes back to its capital and you move to the next level. What goes over the level isn't paid and doesn't carry over.
What you risk
You can only lose the price paid for the evaluation and for add-ons. Losses on the simulated account aren't money and you owe them to no one.
The evaluation is hard, and many of those who try don't pass it. If you hit a limit, the account stops for good and the price isn't returned, except for your rights in the Terms, under “Withdrawal and refunds”. You can appeal the decision within 7 days.
Before you buy, at any firm
With us, the rules are public, in the Terms of use and on each product's page, and a new version doesn't change the rules of an order already paid. Wherever you buy, check four things:
- The full rules, and whether they stay those of the day you bought.
- Whether there is a consistency rule or a news restriction.
- When you can request the first payout and how much each request can pay.
- Whether a decision comes with a written reason and whether you can appeal it.
Educational material, not investment advice. Aegis Traders accounts are simulated, and past results guarantee nothing. The characters and animations are drawn with the help of AI.
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